The present invention relates to controlling systems of a building, such as those which provide heating, ventilation, air conditioning, fire detection, and building access and security; and more particularly to a user interface to such facility management systems.
Large commercial and institutional buildings have several systems for controlling different aspects of the building operation. A heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system manages components which control the interior environment of the building. A security system comprises devices which limit access to the building to only individuals who possess a proper access code or access device, such as a key card. A fire detection system utilizes heat and smoke detectors located throughout the building to sense the occurrence of a fire and produce a warning of that event. Other systems may monitor and control lighting and other electrical loads for optimum energy conservation.
These building systems may be autonomous or networked together in an integrated system. In either case, the systems are controlled by workstations at one or more locations within the building. Such workstations may be located at the manager's office, the building operating engineer's office, and the security desk. When the building is part of a larger commercial or educational campus, the systems and networks for each building can be connected to a wide area communication network, which enables control from a central campus facility management office.
Some companies may have a number of buildings located at different geographical locations in a metropolitan area or throughout a state or several contiguous states. In this situation, the owner or manager of these scattered buildings may desire to monitor and control the operation of each building from a central management office. This can be accomplished with standard telecommunication links between each building and the central management office. However, using conventional telecommunication carriers to provide links to each building becomes expensive and complex, especially where it is desirable to allow a access to each building from several other buildings in a large geographical area.
An obvious solution to this problem would be to provide Internet access to the facility management systems in each building with the appropriate password access protection. However, a drawback of Internet access is that because each building and its systems are unique, the Website and Web pages previously had to be custom developed for each building. Development of custom Websites requires special skills which typically are not possessed by building management personnel. Thus in order to provide Internet access, the building management must hire a Website designer and incur the costs of producing custom Websites for each facility which is to be accessed by the Internet.